New Report:

Major Lobbying Transparency Gaps Enable Efforts to Delay UK Climate & Energy Policy

• A lack of transparency in UK lobbying¹ rules is contributing to the delay and derailment of essential climate and energy policy at the hands of powerful vested interests.
• InfluenceMap finds that intense industry lobbying preceded setbacks in policies on decarbonizing home heating, North Sea oil and gas licensing, and ‘sustainable’ aviation fuel - under both Conservative and Labour governments.
• UK rules on lobbying transparency are currently much weaker than those of many OECD counterparts; reform would improve accountability for any instance where corporate interests and government policy overlap.

New analysis by InfluenceMap of consultation responses (obtained by freedom of information requests) and government meeting records indicate that there is a major transparency gap between actual lobbying on climate and energy policy, and that which is disclosed by companies, industry associations and the Government.

The report finds that the failure to publish policy consultation responses as standard (as is the case in the EU and US, in line with OECD guidance), the absence of a comprehensive lobbying register or central database of ministerial and official meetings, and the selective nature of voluntary disclosures have all enabled efforts to delay the progress of science-aligned climate policy in the UK. It highlights three case studies where unchecked advocacy by the oil and gas industry appears to have contributed to such delays – demonstrating how this has led to missed economic opportunities and hindered the UK Government’s efforts to reach its net-zero goal.

The extent of corporate lobbying identified in this report has come to light because of targeted freedom of information (FOI) requests and therefore likely represents only the tip of the iceberg in terms of behind-the-scenes advocacy from industries with a history of access to powerful institutions and large amounts of money to put behind media and advertising campaigns. With investors and the public keen to see greater transparency on climate lobbying - and UK companies such as Unilever and SSE leading in this field - new rules would serve to level the playing field and hold all companies accountable for lobbying in line with their net-zero commitments².

The report finds:

• Years of unchecked oil and gas industry lobbying for hydrogen in home heating led to a 'hydrogen for home heating hokey-cokey' whereby the government announced - and then cancelled - hydrogen heating pilots, delaying the roll-out of heat pumps. In doing so they appeared to ignore the advice of their own independent advisors and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) all of whom consistently recommended heat pumps as the preferred strategy for decarbonizing heating. InfluenceMap found that the previous Conservative Government was subject to a concerted lobbying push from the gas industry on hydrogen for home heating including several gas industry alliances and household names, such as Shell, BP and Centrica, that pushed narratives on hydrogen that were misaligned with the IPCC guidance. Despite the advice of independent groups, and the eventual cancellation of multiple hydrogen trials announced by the previous Government, 31% of Labour MPs still believe hydrogen can play “a significant role” in home heating³, hinting at continued lobbying success. A study ⁴ comparing heat pump roll-out in the UK with France blamed ‘policy inertia’ for the missed economic opportunity, with UK installations, emissions reductions and jobs supported being less than a tenth of those in France.
• A lack of transparency on Government consultation responses and reliance on voluntary corporate disclosures meant BP could publish an incomplete summary of its position on the previous Government's proposed tests for oil and gas licensing, only identified later via InfluenceMap FOI request. On its website, BP omitted its opposition to a key test (the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions) which would have covered most of the emissions from these licenses. The rule was scrapped before the previous government issued 100 new licenses.
• The absence of a comprehensive lobbying register and central database of official meeting records allowed industry to influence a key aspect of aviation policy under the radar. Government records from the last parliament show that the aviation industry held over 40 meetings with 15 different ministers on the topic of 'sustainable' aviation fuel (SAF), yet none of these records mention whether there was discussion of a flagship policy, the ‘SAF Mandate’ intended to deliver greener fuels. This is despite the fact the policy was deemed significant enough to warrant its own stakeholder working group. Further documents obtained via FOI show that industry advocated for a much less stringent cap and this was subsequently reflected in the final Mandate. The weakened policy was later cited in a speech by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to justify Heathrow expansion.

In each of these cases, lax UK transparency and disclosure rules meant almost none of this lobbying was proactively disclosed, either by Government departments or the companies involved. Many of the positions taken in engagement with policymakers and the public uncovered here contradict IPCC guidance on delivering the Paris Agreement - something all companies mentioned in this report have committed to. However, as these interventions were not disclosed, they could not be challenged.

The recently launched consultation on implementing the government’s manifesto commitment to introduce mandatory net-zero transition planning provides an opportunity to improve corporate transparency on climate policy lobbying and bring companies in line with their stated net-zero commitments. To achieve this, and to improve accountability for any instance where corporate interests and government policy overlap the Government could reform the Lobbying Act to include in-house lobbying in the statutory register, and in the meantime (through secondary legislation) broaden the scope of information required from consultant lobbyists. The Government could also deliver on the lobbying recommendations of the Committee for Standards in Public Life: to publish a single, searchable database of meetings with lobbyists; include the specific policy or legislation discussed; and broaden the scope to include Special Advisors and informal lobbying engagements (such as unscheduled phone calls and WhatsApps). Finally, the Government could amend its Consultation Principles to include the publication of consultation responses as standard, as is the case in the EU and US, and in line with OECD guidance.

Click here for full report

For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Kitty Hatchley, Media Manager, InfluenceMap (London)

Email: kitty.hatchley {@} influencemap.org

Notes to Editors

(1) Lobbying: The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying and Influence defines lobbying and influence activities as “actions, conducted directly or through any other natural or legal person, targeted at public officials carrying out the decision-making process, its stakeholders, the media or a wider audience, and aimed at promoting the interests of lobbying and influence actors with reference to public decision-making and electoral processes.”

(2) InfluenceMap’s latest Global Leaders in Climate Policy Engagement report shows that UK companies SSE and Unilever are now among those strategically and actively supporting climate policy around the world. Investors have been behind key initiatives to align lobbying with the Paris Agreement, such as the Global Standard on Responsible Climate Lobbying.

(3) Polling of MPs by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit in August 2024 found that 27% of MPs (and 31% of Labour MPs) believe that “hydrogen can play a significant role in heating homes in the future”.

(4) A report by MCS Charitable Foundation, Heat pump rollout in France and the UK: A comparative analysis (June 2023), found that installations of heat pumps numbered 600,000 in France compared to 55,000 in the UK in 2022 - equivalent to 0.84 Mt of CO2 avoided compared to 0.07 Mt (InfluenceMap calculations)- while jobs supported numbered 32,000 compared to 2,000. The MCS report concludes that for the UK, “technology agnosticism and the possibility of hydrogen heating has resulted in policy inertia, which has ultimately favored incumbent gas heating”.